


Interesting... and More

by JayBarou



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill Cipher POV, Post all seasons, Twins go bad, Twisted twins, future!fic, or at least Bill thinks they are
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 06:14:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2299409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBarou/pseuds/JayBarou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bill Cipher was trapped by the ten signs, and he thought that it would be forever, but forever might be shorter than he expected when certain twins keep meddling where they shouldn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interesting... and More

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this before Sock Opera, but I wanted to wait just in case there was some radical change of direction in the show.  
> Also, this is a oneshot, because I'm already stuck in two other fics. Unless I finish those first, there won't be a chapter 2. [edit: liar liar pants on fire]

 

It had been quite a lot of time since the last time Bill had been summoned. Not thirty years this time, but he knew that years had passed. He had spent years trapped in his circle, thanks to the most stupid failure on his part; he should have killed the ten signs as soon as he found them. He should have killed at least one of them to make sure that he couldn’t be trapped again, but he had been overconfident.

Also, killing humans was messy, and ineffective, he knew that very well. Kill one human and someone will mess with time, or with magic, or make deals with devils (lesser devils, mind you) and _plop_! Presto revival! No, killing was too simple. He had found a better way of avoiding the ten signs: with the second Stan Pines trapped in a different universe, he had thought himself invincible. The rest of the ten sings were even enemies most of the time! 

9

The reason why they had all allied against him, how they had retrieved the second Stan, how everything -even luck- had worked against him… it should be a mystery for him, but he could see everything, and he had seen his own downfall with painful detail… just when it was too late to stop it.

His defeat had been such a small chance in the grand scheme of things, that he had not even considered it. And the punishment for his misstep was spending eternity in his circle, watching everything, everywhere in their universe; seeing the stars be born and die, seeing the ants evolve, seeing every cell divide and absolutely powerless to change a single thing.

And it would be for eternity this time, he knew. The ten signs were secretive idiots who didn’t trust one another, or who were supposed to not trust one another, at least, but none of them were complete idiots. They would burn the journals and they would keep the summoning a secret, they would confine Bill to his dark round corner, where he would never be a problem again.

Of course, being powerless was not something that Bill accepted easily, so he had taken the only rebellion left to him. If he was supposed to witness everything without the chance to act, he would stop watching. He had been motionless, lost in the dark, in the silent void, thinking of his half-finished plans and NOT seeing. They weren’t even _very_ evil plans; the ten signs just thought they were because he was a demon.

Talk about prejudice; you rip off a few deer teeth and suddenly you are evil.

He was not even mad at the ten signs (he wasn’t!), it had been his fault, for seeing _everything,_ but not taking everything into account. If he was ever summoned again, he would kill the ten signs as soon as possible, of course, but it was just out of convenience, nothing personal, see? Not resentful at all. Also, they were amusing, and they had proved their potential, he didn’t really _really_ want them dead, just out of his way.

1

But he would never have the chance, not in this universe, not now that the journals were probably reduced to ashes. There had to be a timeline where his plans were successful, but he was stuck in this one.

13

 

Trapped, trapped, trapped.

 

By a bunch of children, a bunch of teenagers and a bunch of grandpas.

 

Maybe he was a little bit resentful.

 

He had been wrong too many times when dealing with the ten signs and he had had time to wonder if his powers malfunctioned in some way when he was around them. Even the first time he had been summoned by the little white haired guy: he had failed to predict how he broke their deal, and he wouldn’t have found the memory of the password without the troupe searching for it either. Also, he had not seen the shooting star coming with the toy gun, he didn’t take into account the nuances of human bodies, he dismissed their facility to ignore their differences to fight him…

19

There was something thrilling and unexpected in the signs, something that Bill liked and despised in equal measure. However, the signs didn’t matter anymore; his only chance to escape would be if a baby mispronounced his first words so badly that it sounded like ancient Latin. By then -if such a thing ever happened- the sings would be long underground and he would have to find and deal with the new ones. But he was always wrong when he tried to predict the ten signs and he was wrong this time too.

20

Bill felt a familiar pull that made him open his eye again for the first time in a very long while. Two of the symbols around him lighted up and started a chain reaction; the other signs lighted up in sequence and disappeared in a puff of blue smoke. Two signs: the pine tree and the shooting star, how deliciously unexpected.

9

When Bill appeared to answer the summoning, he recognized the place. If nothing else, he had seen a version of it in Stan’s mind, but he had kept his undivided attention in that place too. The Mystery Shack had not changed much in the time he had been absent, but his eye wandered immediately to the hidden wards and protective sigils on the shelves, craved on the floor, weaved in the curtains… the inhabitants of the shackle had not been idle.

12

“Well, well, looks like nobody burnt this place down,” Bill said to gain time, he had been out for too long, after all, “Pity!"

12

What he almost didn’t recognize, were the twins. He had nearly forgotten how fast humans changed. Both were taller, of course, naturally grown up, but also less… round. They had not changed that much, now that Bill looked closer, colorful, cap, hair, skin… but there was something very different to them.

“How hopeless you must be to call me! What did you do this time? Called the aliens? Freed the beasts of the deep? Unleashed the doomsday singing in the shower?”

There was something in the siblings that bothered him, and it was not something obvious. However, Bill didn’t have time to lose in observations or changes. He had had a precious strike of luck and he was not going to waste it: the ten signs needed to die immediately. He could see that at least four of the other signs lived in the shack. He was going to find them and obliterate their paltry existence so thoroughly that no manner of time travel or magic could bring them back.

“Well, I’m sure you need me _desperately_ , but, you see, I’m a busy demon. Being trapped is not good for business, I have things to do, worlds to rule…”

And then he noticed the table on which he was standing. _Standing!_ Not hovering or floating, _standing!_ There was a craving on the table too, and he could feel a different circle craved under said table. There were fluorescent glittery candles in the corners of a star of five points.

One of the siblings held the burnt paper remains of a drawing. He could only see a third of the drawing, but he knew it well, it was an eye crossed with a red x. The Pine twins had not been sitting still if they had met the Blind Eye Society. Anyway, with so many wards in place, Bill was essentially in a cage even now (still better than the circle, though).

“…so I only have a few minutes to listen to you two babbling.” He amended his lethal purpose. He could trick the twins first to let him out and _then_ he’d get rid of the signs.

Pine Tree snorted and Shooting Star giggled, they looked at each other briefly. That’s when Bill noticed their stance; relaxed and confident. The girl, Mabel, had not even sat up; she had her head propped on her hand, her elbow was on the armrest of the chair and her other arm was coming and going from the bowl on her lap… Were those seriously [corn cornos](http://gravityfalls.wikia.com/wiki/Corncornos) she was eating?

23

The boy, Dipper, was standing, but he was just as relaxed as his sister. He held a journal against his chest. At first Bill thought it was one of the three journals, but he realized he was wrong when he saw the cover without a scratch, the smaller, four-fingered hand on the cover, and the obvious black five drawn on the golden hand.

1

Not idle at all, apparently.

20

“We didn’t summon you for help. In fact, we just wanted to check if you were still alive.” Pine Tree said with a smile.

3

“And to test the new cage!” Shooting Star added loudly from the chair before biting another corn triangle.

8

“And that too.” Pine Tree turned his smile to his sister before he addressed Bill again, “But now that you are here you could be useful, and tell us about the first creature to haunt Gravity Falls.”

9

Bill wanted to shout at them _You have messed with that!?,_ but he was not going to be that sloppy and ruin his chance to escape. Mabel crunched another of the contents of her bowl. Bill turned up all his charm and superior look, the twins needed to see that he was above the nameless creature and above them. He would play the game again.

14

“In exchange of what, exactly? You don’t have anything I want.” Lies, of course, but he wanted to unbalance them, something that, actually, and going by their expressions and by Mabel deliberately eating another of her snacks, he hadn’t managed yet.

7

“No. You don’t understand. There is nothing in this for you. No deals, no body snatching, no mind-escaping. You are going to tell us all you know because you will want to; in fact, you will beg us to listen. You can use what’s left of your free will or we can use one of the mind-controlling spells.” The boy opened the journal feigning nonchalance, “What do you think, Mabel? What would happen to a mind-demon affected by a mind spell?”

“I’m not sure, Dipper.” She scratched her chin thoughtfully, “Maybe the same twisty paradox thing that happened to Giddeon’s star. Escher would have wept with that one.” The girl looked dreamy saying those words.

Fine! Bill was worried, but they were bluffing. A good bluff, but of course they were bluffing. Those kids didn’t have the abilities to harm him, he had been careful to destroy any weakness in the past. They couldn’t have learnt enough in such a short time… could they? His second of doubt must have shown, because Mabel got up, put the bowl aside and loomed over him.

“Bill, you are almost a childhood frienemy to us, we don’t want to hurt you. You are the least of many evils; none which have managed to overpower us so far. So I’m being the nicest person on the face of Earth right here, because you are thinking that you can trick us, but if you try, we will do something that we will regret, maybe.” Mabel had planted her hands on the table, just outside the circle.

“Are you really trying to threaten me? It’s funny how stupid you still are after all this time! I can’t _feel_. There is nothing you can _do_ to me.” Bill preened, good humor recovered. He was right, it was a bluff.

Shooting Star sat back and Bill noticed the noise of plates coming from the kitchen, a moment later someone crossed the hall without paying attention. It was not hard to come to the conclusion that the twins were not hiding anymore, and that they were used to the whole supernatural stuff by now. Meanwhile, Pine Tree just kept passing pages of his journal, unhurried.

“We know,” Dipper looked up from the journal and directly into his eye, “and we know you would enjoy pain too much, so we designed something especially to hurt you.”

“Yes!” Mabel interrupted her brother again, putting the bowl back on her lap, “And we thought ‘What does he like?’ Besides pain and complicating our lives, that is. He already lacks his freedom!” Bill was not sure if that had been a deliberate remark to mock him or simple tactlessness, but he didn’t have time to think about it because Pine Tree continued seamlessly after her.

“Power, enlightenment, knowledge…” He went back to scanning the book, “We wrote a spell to guard that hunger for knowledge and power, but to prevent you from keeping any of it. It would crave you from the inside out until you were just a bad dream instead of a demon.” Bill was glad of not having a face right then; he didn’t know what it would express if he had it, a dying smile or something like that, “So what do you have to say, Bill Cipher? Are you going to behave or are you going to make us try our untested spellwork?”

“I think you scared him, Dipper.” Mabel answered with a giggle before he could  even think of the question, “We should leave him alone in his little circle to consider his choices.”

“What choices?” Dipper sounded genuinely confused.

“Exactly!” Mabel threw her hands in the air cheerfully. Her brother looked as amused as exasperated while he muttered a couple of words.

In the blink of an eye, Bill was back in the cage, and THAT was all the proof he needed to know that they were not fooling around. Wrong again. They had needed the ten signs together and very concrete indications regarding time and place to trap him that occasion years ago, but now they could do it with barely a gesture and a word. That couldn’t be a bluff, that was a serious menace.

Bill kept his eye open this time and he focused on the twins. Oh, yes, they had wards to keep him out, but he was not just a flimsy demon; he was Bill Cipher, master of the mindscape and lord of the kown and unknown. He could beat their wards and more than that, but he had to recognize they were good.

Original plans forgotten for now, he observed the siblings as they blew the candles, took the bowl of corn cornos and went to the kitchen to announce how well everything had gone. Mabel was the most enthusiastic.

“Remind me again, why were we ever concerned about him? He is adorable!”

Obviously they didn’t know the full extent of his powers, Bill hardly ever used more than the minimum to make his point. It was always better to be underestimated, and it was always better to know about one’s enemies as much as possible.

Now, allseing again, he could see the shack for what it was: dangerous. He could see the collection of demons in one of the basements, the ongoing investigations and dissections in the attic, the supernatural instruments in the backyard and the traces of all the other signs coming and going around the shack.

Bill didn’t notice the creatures buried around the building, but only because he considered it normal. He did notice the creatures cowering in the woods and the beings who seemed perfectly comfortable, if not a bit cowed, visiting that apparently harmless place. Some of them were the kind of creatures that kept the smaller monsters at bay. Bill regretted having closed his eye for even the smallest amount of time. How had any of this happened?

Worrying, unexpected, troublesome, disturbing… magnificent. They had become so much more in a short human time, it was infuriating and delightful. And there was the other disturbing thing, like a mirage; what kept him thinking that the twins were different now. It was the smiling; he couldn’t see it up close, but from his cage it was obvious.

They had perturbing smiles that made them look experienced, which they probably were. Their smiles were confident, tainted, and they had a cruel side to them. Still the Pine twins, but not the same any more. Bill was almost sure that it had something to do with how close they were to so many twisted creatures. He could see the mind strings, even if he couldn't touch them, and their minds were no longer normal.

It had infected them, the darkness. They were closer to being demons themselves than to being humans, and nobody had noticed yet. That was dangerous for the signs, for Gravity Falls, for everyone, Bill included, and it was frightfully interesting. Something similar had happened to the other brothers and to the author, back when they were investigating too deep where they shouldn't. They had shaken it off a long time ago, keeping their distance with the supernatural, and the twins had not. They had accepted it, used it and now it was almost part of them. 

Bill didn’t need time to think about it, he’d play their games, undoubtedly, for as long as they were this interesting. Plans completely forgotten, he decided that it would be much better feeding their dark side. What could they become, given the chance? He hadn’t had such an intriguing plan in the last centuries! He would guide their worst passions and channel their most perverse desires. He would shape them and keep them for himself.

He didn’t need his powers for that. He only needed to put an act for them and his words, which they were already willing to listen. They were already mischievous before they attracted his attention, and they could be selfish when they wanted something. It was a matter of letting that go without them realizing (and hopefully getting out in the process). It would be fun.

They had not seen what he was capable of; Bill had only shown a small fraction of what he really was. If the twins thought that they could control him easily or completely, they were in for a nasty surprise. However, the opposite was also true, Bill didn’t know what they had in store. Their future was dark and full of sinister promises because he didn’t know what they would achieve or how powerful they had become without him around.

There was a threat, a risk, a challenge worth his time. They could destroy him, really kill him for good, keep fighting for humanity or forget about him in his cage. They were dangerous and they shouldn’t have given Bill time to think, because right now he was making plans within plans again, and that heeded disaster for Gravity Falls, but, oh, what a beautiful disaster! right? He would play to win again, with as many tricks as were needed, because THIS was interesting.

No, interesting was too small a word for those twins… tempting… addictive was more appropriate, and Bill knew all there was to know about addictions and drowning in them. After all, both addiction and temptation are just tricks of the mind.


End file.
